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I. Black Soldier Fly

Production
Farmers Guide

Instruction manual for Kenyan smallholder farmers to start with the production of Black
Soldier Fly Larvae as substitute for omena and soy in animal feed.

Glossary

5-DOL: Stands for ‘Five Day Old Larvae’. These are the larvae which are
introduced from the hatchery towards the smallholder farmers.

Adult: The last stage of the BSF. The state where they are ready to mate
and actually are flies.

BSF: Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia Illicucens.

BSFL: Black Soldier Fly Larvae.

Fifth instar: Harvesting stage of the BSFL, during this stage the larvae get a
beige color and have the highest protein content.

Kitchen waste: Leftover, organic matter from kitchens, restaurants, hotels and
households.

Prepupae: Stage right before the insect turns into pupae.

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Pupae: Pupation or transformation stage of insects which undergo a
metamorphosis. Turning from larvae to nymph or butterfly.

Table of Contents
Impressum ................................................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Glossary .......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................ 3
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3
1.1 The problem ............................................................................................................................................. 3
1.2 The starter-kit ........................................................................................................................................... 4
2. Why Black Soldier Flies? ....................................................................................................................... 4
3. How to produce them? ............................................................................................................................ 5
3.1 Prepare yourself........................................................................................................................................ 5
3.2 Preparing feed substrate.......................................................................................................................... 8
3.3 Risks ......................................................................................................................................................... 11
3.4 Harvesting ............................................................................................................................................... 11
3.5 Processing ............................................................................................................................................... 14
3.6 Cleaning ................................................................................................................................................... 14
3.7 Summary production process .............................................................................................................. 14
4. What are the costs? ............................................................................................................................... 17
4.1 How many crates do I need?................................................................................................................ 17
Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................. 19

1. Introduction
2. The problem

Agriculture is Kenya’s most important sector. In 2017, 34% of Kenya’s GDP and 65% of the total export
of Kenya were because of agriculture (The World Bank, 2018).
In total, 63% of all food produced in Kenya originates from smallholder farmers (Balancing Act, 2018).
Smallholders produce the majority of Kenya’s agricultural products, but their yields are low. To reduce
hunger, it is important to increase the productivity of the smallholders in this country.
A big problem in the current agricultural sector of Kenya are the high prices for animal feed due to high
protein prices. For chicken, feed is around 60-70% of the total production costs (FAO, 2007). For pigs,
feed is around 80% of the production costs (FAO, 2012). Of these percentages, around 60% of the total

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feed costs are because of protein (Kimuge, 2019). These high protein prices lead to low-quality and very
expensive animal feed.
We realize that the current situation is unfair towards farmers and want farmers to receive a fairer income.
Therefore, several SMEs offers farmers an outcome with the Farmer Outgrow Model. With this model
we want to offer farmers an opportunity to receive 5-DOLs from us and grow their own protein-rich
animal feed on waste materials.
The production of the BSF on the waste products of smallholder farmers gives farmers an opportunity to
produce protein rich animal feed without having to buy expensive animal feed with foreign protein
sources as soybean- and fishmeal. The usage of the black soldier fly larvae as feed would decrease the
costs of animal feed for farmers and can lead to a more food secure economy.

3. The starter-kit
Because we think that all farmers need access towards high-quality animal feed, we offer a special starter-
kit for smallholder farmers. These are farmers with a maximum of 100 chicken or 30 pigs.
The starter-kit contains the products shown in figure 2 and will sell for KES 6000. With the
implementation of the starter-kit, a farmer is able to produce a maximum of 2.5 kgs of Black Soldier Fly
larvae per crate, this leads to a total of 12,5 kgs of BSFL every two weeks.
If the farmer wishes to have a higher production, more crates can be bought for KES 750 per crate.

Figure 1: Starter-kit offered to farmers

2. Why Black Soldier Flies?

Before explaining why Black Soldier Flies are relevant for smallholder farmers, we need to explain what
BSF is and where it originates from.
The black soldier fly is a common and widespread fly in many tropical regions, but the BSF originates
from South America. Because of human actions, the fly was able to spread to other tropical, sub-tropical

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and warmer regions. The BSF has the ability to adjust to different circumstances very quickly. But, in
contrast to the housefly, the BSF is not a pest (de Baets, 2017). This, since they do not bite, sting and are
not able to transfer zoonotic diseases.
The larvae of the BSF are able to concert organic waste towards protein. The protein content of the dried
BSFL is between 35 and 50 percent.
The adult flies (figure 2) are between 15 to 20 millimeters long. Adults do not have a mouth, therefore, the
larvae consume a lot of organic substrate during their larval stage. The larvae are able to feed quickly and
can reach their harvesting stage (figure 3) in 10 to 14 days.

Figure 2: Adult Black Soldier Fly

Figure 3: Black Soldier Fly Larvae

The dried larvae can be used as a substitute for soy and omena/fishmeal in animal feed. The larvae can
survive a lot of environmental differences and are therefore a suitable implementation for farmers to
produce themselves. They are able to survive huge differences in temperature, humidity and feed
substrate. They do prefer a warm temperature (around 27 degrees Celsius). When the temperature gets
too high (above 30 degrees Celsius) or too low (under 25 degrees Celsius), the developing time of the
larvae will increase, but the larvae are most likely to survive. This makes it easy for farmers to produce.
Besides the low work-load, the production of the BSFL leads to an eventual decrease in feed costs, since
the buying and production of the larvae is cheaper than buying omena and/or soy.
Besides, the production of livestock on BSFL leads towards higher revenues since the pigs have a
developing time of 4.5 months instead of 7 months, and the meat is of higher quality (Mulderij, 2019).
For layer hens, their laying period extends which leads to an average increase of 62% more eggs. The eggs
have thicker shells and the yolk is more yellow. And lastly, broilers fed on BSFL are on average 10% more
heavy than broilers which are not fed on BSFL (ICIPE, 2017).

3. How to produce them?

4. Prepare yourself
Before you can start with the production of BSF, several products need to be available on the farm.
Firstly, for hygiene aspect several pieces of protective clothing are recommended. These are; a pair of
overalls, non-dispatchable rubber gloves and a pair of gumboots. This will protect your clothes and shoes
from getting dirty and will protect your hands from bacteria. Besides, the protective clothes protects the
BSFL from bacteria and mites. Make sure the gloves and boots are cleaned regularly, and the overalls are
washed on at least a monthly basis. For visitors, dispatchable rubber gloves can be bought.

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 Figure 4: Clothing checklist BSFL production

Besides only clothing, several other essentials for BSFL production are needed. All essentials are shown in
figure 6.

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 Figure 5: Other essentials for BSFL production

Basins are needed to grow the larvae in. depending on the size of your farm, the amount of crates needed
can be calculated. For example; a farmer with 30 chicken needs only 2 crates, and a pig farmer with 10
pigs needs 8 crates to replace the recommended protein content with BSFL.
Tape and markers are needed to mark the crates with the date of the start of the production, this keeps
everything structured.

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A kitchen scale is needed to measure the amount of kitchen waste and manure. Besides, a scale can be
used to measure the harvest. Lastly, a sieve is needed to separate the BSF manure and skins from the
harvesting-ready larvae.

5. Preparing feed substrate

The project delivers bags of 5-DOLs towards the farm. Each bag of 5-DOLs needs 12 kg’s of feed
substrate. The feed substrate can be a mixture of animal manure and different kinds of kitchen waste. The
recommended amount is 60% animal manure and 40% kitchen waste (table 1). Research has shown that
the larvae fed on a percentage with this substrate had the highest harvest outcome.

Table 1: Ratio's feed substrate

Kitchen waste Manure Total

% 40 60 100 It is recommended to cut the
Kg 4,8 7,2 12 kitchen waste into smaller pieces
before mixing, the larvae are then
able to consume the substrate better and faster. It is also recommended to first create a substrate out of
kitchen waste (figure 7) before mixing it with the animal manure.
All different kinds of waste which can be fed to the larvae is shown in figure 9.

When the kitchen waste substrate is mixed through

correctly, animal manure can be added into the
BSFL crates. Afterwards, the kitchen waste
substrate can be mixed with the manure to create
the final feeding substrate.

When the feed substrate is ready, a bag of larvae

(figure 88).
needs to be added in each crate (figure ).

Figure 6: Example kitchen waste substrate

One bag of larvae with substrate weighs 100 grams and can lead to a harvest
between 1.8 kg and 2.5 kg of end product.
The amount of harvest depends on several factors;
feed substrate, temperature and relative humidity. When the feed substrate does not
contain enough nutrients, the larvae tend to be smaller and have a
Figure 7: 5-DOL with substrate
longer development time.
When the larvae are active, the temperature in the crates increases. The recommended outside
temperature is between 25 and 35 degrees Celsius. This leads to a higher productivity and development
rate of the larvae. For humidity, the feed substrate needs to have a high water content. When the feed
substrate is pressed together in one hand, it needs to stick together, but only a little bit to no water has to
come out of the substrate, this can be seen in figure 10.

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Figure 8: Ingredients feed substrate

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Figure 9: Moisture content feed

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Figure 11 gives an overview of all steps which need to be followed for the making of the feed substrate
for the larvae.

6. Risks
The production of the larvae has a few risks which are not severe. These risks are; mites, birds and
houseflies.

- Birds are attracted towards the larvae and are likely to consume them when possible. To decrease
this risk, a net can be placed on top of the crates.

- Mites can be recognized because of their red colour. They feed themselves on the blood of the
larvae. Mites are attracted towards chicken manure. When the larvae are contaminated with
mites, the time before the larvae reach harvesting stage can be extended. After harvesting crates
with chicken mites, the crates need to be cleaned and dried properly.

Figure 10: Chicken mites attached to the larvae

- The pupae of houseflies can be recognized because of its colour and shape. Houseflies are no
threat for the larvae, but they are in competition because of the feed substrate.
The developing time of the housefly larvae is shorter and therefore they do not form a big risk.

6.4 Harvesting
The harvesting of the BSFL needs to happen when the protein content of the larvae is the highest. This
can be recognized by their beige colour. Before harvesting stage, the larvae have a white colour. When the
larvae are past their harvesting stage, they turn into a black/grey colour and are most likely to escape the
crates. The difference in these stages can be seen in figure 10.

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 Figure 11: When to harvest

The harvesting can be done by sieving. A sieve will be part of the smallholder starter kit. The process of
sieving can be seen in figure 11. The manure/frass received from the sieving process can be used as
fertilizer on land.

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Figure 12: Sieving BSFL

The end products are then the larvae in harvesting stage (figure 12) and the manure of the larvae (figure 13).

Figure 13: Larvae in harvesting stage

Figure 14: Frass/manure of larvae

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7. Processing
After the harvesting of the larvae, they need to be processed. For chicken, the larvae can also be fed alive
(this does not count for pigs). The cleaning of the larvae needs to be done via blanching. The larvae need
to be boiled for 3 minutes in water. This to kill and clean the larvae and kill bacteria. After this process,
the larvae need to dry in the sun. let them dry for two weeks. Then the final product is ready, which can
be fed to pigs and chicken.

Figure 15: Processing of

larvae

When the product is ready (figure 19) it can be fed to pigs and chicken. As stated before; pigs have a
replacement rate of 75% for protein. The replacement rate of protein for chicken is 50%.

Figure 16: Final end product: dried BSFL

8. Cleaning
When the processing of the larvae is done, the crates can be cleaned. This needs to be done properly to
reduce any risks and create a hygienic environment. The crates need to be washed with warm water and
soap. Disinfectant can be used afterwards to kill present bacteria. Let the crates dry at least one day before
using them again.

9. Summary production process

This chapter shows the overview of the production process, first via images (figure 17) and then step-by-
step via a flowchart (figure 18).

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Figure 17: Overview production process

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Figure 18: Step-by-step guide

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 4. What are the costs?
5. How many crates do I need?
The replacement rate of the protein is not 100%. This means that omena/fish meal or soy still need to be
added to the feed mixture. The replacement rate for pigs is 75%, for chicken it is 50%. This, since
research has shown that these percentages lead to the highest value for the end-products of the animals
(meat and eggs).
With these percentages, the amount of crates desired for production of the amount of protein needed to
feed the animals can be seen in table 2 and 3.

Table 2: Crates needed pigs

Pigs
Amount animals Replacement rate Crates needed
10 8
15 12
20 75% 16
25 20
30 24

Table 3: Crates needed chicken

Chicken
Amount animals Replacement rate Crates needed
10 1
25 1
50 50% 3
75 4
100 5

The starter-kit (figure 2) can be bought for KES 6000 and can produce between 9 and 12,5 kgs of larvae
every two weeks. The starter-kit contains;
- 5 crates
- 5 bags of 5-DOL
- An overall
- A sieve
- A pair of non-dispatchable rubber gloves

Since it takes around two weeks to grow the larvae, it is recommended to buy twice the amount of crates
needed. This, so you can produce enough protein to reach the replacement rate every week. Crates can be
bought for KES 750 per piece and are a one-time investment. Larvae need to be bought every time a
production cycle is completed. This can be every week or every two weeks, depending on the amount of
crates a farmer has. One bag of larvae needs to go in each crate and will cost KES 150 per bag.

Table 4: Comparison feed prices in Kenya

Comparison between feed prices

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 Feed prices
Omena Soy Average
Ksh Ksh Ksh

Kg KES 150,00 KES 100,00 KES 125,00

Feed prices BSF

Ksh
Kg KES 75,00

For a farmer with 30 chicken, the weekly decrease of feed costs is able to decline with 28%. A farmer
with 10 pigs will notice a total decrease in costs of 8% per week.
Even though the decrease in costs for pig production is lower than for chicken production, farmers are
still able to save a lot of money since the pigs fed on BSF have a shorter period of growing (4.5 months
instead of 7) and the meat quality is higher, which leads to higher profits.

6. Cost reduction 10 pigs

Feed ratio's per week

Per pig Per 10 pigs
Feed (kg) Protein (kg) Feed (kg) Protein (kg)

Amount 21 2,625 210 26,25

Percentage 100 12,5 100 12,5

Pig smallholder
starter kit (10 pigs)
Current situation Future situation
Average (kg) Price Average Price BSFL Price
(kg) (kg)
26,25 KES 21,00 KES 2.625,00 5,25 KES 393,75
3.281,25
Total: KES KES
3.281,25 3.018,75
-8% decrease in feed costs on a
weekly basis

7. Cost reduction 30 chicken

Feed ratio's per week

Per chicken Per 30 chicken
Feed
Feed (kg) Protein (kg) Protein (kg)
(kg)
Amount 1,12 0,00 33,6 7,39

Percentage 100 22 100 22

Chicken smallholder starter

kit (30 chicken)

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 Current situation Future situation
Average (kg) Price Average Price BSFL Price
(kg) (kg)
7,39 KES 924,00 2,14 KES 267,75 5,25 KES 393,75

Total: KES 924,00 KES 661,50

-28% decrease in feed costs on a

weekly basis

Bibliography
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to access information and loans. Retrieved from allafrica.com:
https://allafrica.com/stories/201812020151.html
de Baets, F. (2017). OPTIMALISERING OPKWEEK VAN DE ZWARTE
SOLDATENVLIEGOP VARKENSMEST MET OOG OP AUTOMATISATIE. Gent.
FAO. (2007). Poultry sector country review.
FAO. (2012). Pig sector: Kenya.
ICIPE. (2017). Weight Gain of ISA Brown Exotic Grower Chicken Fed Insect-Based Meal . Nairobi:
ICIPE.
Kimuge, S. (2019, 06 19). Farmers urge manufacturers to reduce cost of animal feeds. Retrieved 04 29,
2019, from nation.co.ke: https://www.nation.co.ke/business/Farmers-seek-reduction-
in-animal-feeds-costs/996-3977312-ah1jigz/index.html
Maritim, N. (2018, 1 22). Smallholder farmers key to food security. Retrieved from www.nation.co.ke:
https://www.nation.co.ke/oped/opinion/-Smallholder-farmers-key-to-food-security-
/440808-4272544-hex9vtz/index.html
SFLY Greentech. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved from http://sflyproteins.com: http://sflyproteins.com
Skrobonja, E. (2018). 13 Reasons Why You Should Try The Black Soldier Fly In 2019. Retrieved 05 03,
2019, from www.eatcrickster.com/: https://www.eatcrickster.com/blog/black-soldier-
fly
The World Bank. (2018). Kenya: GDP share of agriculture . Retrieved 04 30, 2019, from
www.theglobaleconomy.com:
https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/Kenya/Share_of_agriculture/

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